Top 3: WoW Shadowlands Arena Healers
Who Can Really Keep You Alive in Arenas? Will Mother Earth Tend To Your Wounds Or Will the Light Bring You Salvation?
The Arena is a trial in WoW. Those who can master their class, knowing every in and out. The Arena separates the PvPers from the Gladiators. These are the top healing classes and specs for the top 30 players in both 2v2 and 3v3 arena formats. Statistics taken from Blizzard rankings websites.
Number 3: Restoration Druid
When These Trees Fall They Do Make a Sound! The Abilities Of The Restoration Druid Are Timed Healbombs
The Restoration Druid has a very sparce representation in both 2’s and 3’s. This is not a reflection on class effectiveness because the trees throw heals around and create big advantages in both arena formats.
Being able to throw Heal Over Time effects on party members who are about to or are taking a bunch of damage from the other team makes a Resto Druid capable of healing without busting out major cooldowns prematurely.
Throwing the Rejuvenation, Rejuvenation (Germination), and Life bloom HoTs on your targets you can alleviate a lot of damage. These spells are base line and not an over extension.
Cenarion Ward is one of the greatest heals in your arsenal. Protecting the party member that this spell was cast on for 30 seconds it also heals for (316% spell power) when hit. Being hit breaks the spell but does also provide the healing. This ability is also non-dispelable.
Swift mend is a good healing cooldown. Consuming a Wild Growth, Rejuvenation, or Regrowth the spell heals for (345% Spell Power). This is good alone but with abilities like Soul of the Forest and Grove Tending you can heal through most incoming assaults. Soul of the Forest increases your next Regrowth or Rejuvenation by 200% when Swift mend is used! Grove Tending allows Swift mend to heal for (345% Spell Power) over 9 seconds. With these two abilities a Regrowth can easily save party members from being knocked out of the arena.
Ironbark, one of your defensive cooldowns, has been nerfed to a 1.5-minute cooldown. This long cooldown limits usage but not to the point of non-existence. This spell should be used to prevent a super high burst of dps from dealing lethal damage. This spell also boosts your HoTs healing output when you reach level 56.
Bark skin being a personal CD is lack luster. Many times, you will die through the effect making it not worth your time.
Ursol’s Vortex is a genuinely nice CD to have in your bag of tricks though. With this ability you have disruption and saving graces as well. This spell will reduce movement speed by 50% for the duration of 10 second uptime. It also drags an enemy back to the cast point once upon exit. This ability is also usable in all forms!
Now Cyclone! Cyclone will CC a target for 6 seconds with a 1.7 second cast. And to make things better, now CD on the spell!!! Only one target can be affected by Cyclone at a time, however the fact that there is not CD this is somewhat trivial as you can just recast when the spell breaks!
Top Reasons Restoration Druids Are Best for Arena:
- Heal Over Times Spread Healing
- Healing Through Damage
- Small Toolbox of Personal Defense CDs
- Cyclone for Disruptive CC
Number 2: Discipline Priest
It Takes Discipline To Heal An Army
Coming in second on this list with slightly more representation as an Arena healing class is the Disc Priest. With a wide array of healing spells and the ability to do damage by healing through Atonement. The Disc Priest also has a good amount of utility abilities such as Dispel Magic and Mass Dispel. Also having the breaker skill of the Psychic Scream fear and Mind Control affects can break an enemy team’s strategy and even their opener.
The wide arrange of healing done by the Disc Priest is made even more powerful with the spell Atonement. For 15 seconds (30 with the Trinity talent) the priest places a buff on a party member when Power Word: Shield, Shadow Mend, or Power Word: Radiance that heals them for 50% of the spell damage the Priest does! This buff is not limited to one target so in the arena you can place your entire team under the effects of Atonement.
With the talent of Trinity your Atonement is now a 30 second buff and it increases the critical chance of your Smite, Penance and Shadow fiend by 25%! This effect is only if you have the buff on three or more players so unusable in 2v2 arenas.
Dispel Magic is a big disruptor to the other team as well in that it can remove Combustion, Icey Veins, Arcane Power and even the Paladin Blessings! Dispel Magic’s counterpart Mass Dispel is potentially a bigger tide turner itself. In a 15-yard radius the Priest removes all harmful magic effects from 5 friendly targets. Then, above, and beyond, Mass Dispel removes one beneficial magic effect from enemy players.
Psychic Scream, when cast on an enemy healer, becomes a window in which your team can set up their own CC brick wall. Up to 5 enemies in an 8-yard radius will start to flee for 8 seconds. Making sure that the healer is pinged in the mix will derail many openers.
Mind Controlling an enemy is dangerous in an arena because it leaves you vulnerable to the other team’s dps. However, this spell can break every hope your team has as well. Controlling the healer while your own DPS takes down your enemy is a wonderful feeling and will make your teams match much more enjoyable.
Discipline Priest Arena Prowess:
- Great Healing Through Damage with Atonement
- Ability to Deal Damage While Healing Through Atonement
- Ability to Dispel Harmful Effects from Team.
- Ability to Dispel Beneficial Effects from Enemy Team.
- Startup and Opener Breakers in the Form of Psychic Scream and Mind Control
Number 1: Holy Paladin
The Ambulance That Packs A Punch: Whambulance. The Holy Paladin Doesn''t Have A Mace Just For Show!
In the number one spot is the uncontested Holy Paladin. This class has a massive amount of representation in both 2v2 and 3v3 arena rankings. This is no surprise as the Holy Paladin can be both an epic healer as well as an aggressive pusher into the other team. This paired with the lifesaving spells such as Blessing of Protection and Blessing of Sacrifice make the Paladin a holy powerhouse.
The Holy Paladin has many game breaking cool downs outside healing and rescuing. The main contenders are Hammer of Justice and Repentance. With a well-timed Hammer of Justice you can stun one member of the enemy team for seconds. While using the talent Repentance you have a rogue-like Sap effect. For 1 minute the target is incapacitated unable to do anything outside using a personal cool down to break the effect. Either way the enemy reacts the team benefits due to baiting a CD or having 1 minute of free rein.
With the legendary power of Shock Barrier, the Paladin’s Holy Shock spell both heal and put up a barrier of 20% of that heal as a barrier that protects every 6 seconds for 18 seconds. This ability can shield up to 5 targets so either 2s or 3s will benefit.
With the ability to heal up to two targets with Beacon of Light the Paladin has a great amount of spread healing as well. The Beacon of Light gives the buffed party member 50% of all heals done to other party members. Also, when you heal the Beacon target with Holy Light or Flash of Light you get 1 Holy Power.
Spending your Holy Power falls to mainly two useful heals. Word of Glory and Light of Dawn are your two heals that spend 3 Holy Power each. Word of Glory is the main spender with the ability of (315% Spell Power) healing in an instant cast. The fact that this spell is an instant cast is a deal sealer.
Light of Dawn heals up to 5 friendly targets for (105% Spell Power) in a cone 15 yards in front of the Paladin. This heal is considerably lower in healing power but will get a slight heal into all team members if set up correctly.
With the talent’s Crusader’s Might and Avenging Crusader your Holy Paladin becomes a solid applier of pressure. With Crusader’s Might decreasing your Holy Shock’s cool down with each cast you gain the heal OR damage ability so much more rapidly. With your Holy Shock uptime being more frequently you can also apply Shock Barrier and keep your team going.
With Avenging Crusader your Crusader Strike, Judgement and auto attacks deal 30% more damage! But even more importantly your Judgment and Crusader Strike cool down 30% sooner. Also 3 allies are healed for 250% of the damage done. Crusader Strike cooling down sooner makes Holy Shock cool down sooner. This is a great increase to the overall greatness that is the Holy Paladin. It is to be noted that Avenging Crusader replaces Avenging Wrath.
Blessing of Protection is a phenomenal defensive cool down. Not even being a personal cool down it is all the much better. Being able to protect a party member for 10 seconds from all physical damage and harmful effects. Placing this preemptively will protect a member from certain destruction. This ability also places Forbearance on the target making them unable to be protected for 30 seconds.
Blessing of Sacrifice protects the target for 12 seconds (or until you reach 20% HP) by reducing damage by 30%. You as the Paladin take 100% of the damage prevented. This is a tricky spell to use, it can win the game and it can definitely lose the game. This ability takes time and practice as well as knowing enemy tactics to use properly.
Paladin Prowess in Arenas:
- Powerful Healer
- Spread Healing
- Ability to Be Very Aggressive
- Legendary Shock Barrier
- Two Main CC Options
- Party Saving Cool Downs
